Page 1 of Which one... So many choices!

Am thinking of changing my dvd player and am between two players but can find little information on either one and have some questions

The first is the Hitachi 505E (£300).
Is this a clone, or hitachi`s own player?
Are there any know issues, if so what are they?
How does the mp3 work?
What is the picture quality like?
Is it worth waiting on the 705E
Build Qaulity?

The second is the Pioneer 530D (£170). This is the Silver version of the 535.
Are there any know issues, if so what are they?
What`s the picture quality like?
What about RCE?
Build quality?

TIA
RikD

Rik

Hang fire there`ll be someone along tonite who`ll be able to guide you on this. He won`t know a great deal about the Pioneer but he knows a wee bit about the 505.

It may be worth starting a separate thread about the Pioneer 530D (e.g. "Is the Pioneer 530D any good ? Your thoughts please") because this fella, The Iron Duke, will be very biased and try to tempt you into his evil cult of Hitachi !

Seriously, Dukey knows his Hitachi stuff, but if you want to make a balanced decision it may be worth attracting Pioneer owners` attention too so you get both sides of the story.

You heard it here first !

Clayts :-)

This item was edited on Thursday, 26th October 2000, 21:52

Firstly, everything Clayts says is Bullshit:-P

There have been many a night me and The Encore Boy have doned silly super hero type clothing and duelled like a couple of sad tossa`s

Yet we share a manly love for one and other, that homosexuals could never truelly understand:P

---

The Hitachi 505 is a damn fine player, the 705 that will soon be released using the same mpeg card, it has a few more extras.

If you are looking for a bargain keep an eye on what owners of the LG3350 are saying, a quality brand at a cheap price.

Is you choose to purchase the 505, The Hitachi Syndicate awaits you!

My 505 has the 0123 firmware, I have just recieved the 0124 software from a source a shall call Pedro The Spaniard!.
If I can some how decompile this little minx to C or C++ I may be able to hack it.

HITACHI 505 ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HITACHI 705 COULD ROCK!!!!!!!!!

Am already part of the "Hitachi Syndicate" with a DVP-250E.

My main concern is lask of support for this player in terms of multi-region. It`s been impossible to get hold of firmware to fix the Matrix, and now with the RCE encoding it looks like my R1 days are numbered with this player. I don`t think too many will try to create a new firmware for this player.

To be quite honest, I love the 250E. The picture quality is brilliant and has no problems playing most discs, including R1,R2 and R4. The only gripes where withthe seamless branching and the subtitles flashing up on a layer change. This was fixed for R2, but not multi-region.

My father bought a 305 a few weeks ago and it`s pretty good, but the picture breaks up on some discs. I believe it`s a rebadged Samsung 511.

Is the 505E a rebadge, or is it Hitachi homegrown?

What`s the picture quality like? If you`ve seen the 250E can you compare?
Are there any problem disks with it?

What extras will the 705 have over the 505?

As for the LG...
I`ve always liked LG back when they sold under Goldstar. My stereo is Goldstar!
But I prefer the look of the Pioneer or Hitachi. The LG looks like the old Jap stereo systems, all gaudy and tacky!

The firmware...
What processor is the 505 based on? The chances of getting it back to C are slim. I assume you have the binary firmware file. Am in the process of decoding the 250 firmware (both 1.115 multiregion and 1.364 R2), but it`s slow progress. I think it`s an SH3 proc, but haven`t opened it to be sure.


RikD

"Am already part of the "Hitachi Syndicate" with a DVP-250E."

One of the old guard eh?


"My father bought a 305 a few weeks ago and it`s pretty good, but the picture breaks up on some discs. I believe it`s a rebadged Samsung 511.

Is the 505E a rebadge, or is it Hitachi homegrown?"

The 505 and 705 are Hitachi`s own.


"What`s the picture quality like? If you`ve seen the 250E can you compare?
Are there any problem disks with it?
What extras will the 705 have over the 505?"

The colours and the sharpness of the 505 are excellent, but the there are times when grain and pixelation rare their head.

The 505 is not the direct follow upto the 250, It does not have the excellent diget feature of the 250, the 705 is also faster has a Jog shuttle on both the player & remote (The remote looks actually pretty good this time) and has picture improvement options (blackness etc)

As you own a 250, the 505 might feel like a step back as it has less features, although it does have MP3 playback. The MP3 menu is standard but it plays them lustfully.

"As for the LG...
I`ve always liked LG back when they sold under Goldstar. My stereo is Goldstar!
But I prefer the look of the Pioneer or Hitachi. The LG looks like the old Jap stereo systems, all gaudy and tacky!"

The 505 does look stylish.


"The firmware...
What processor is the 505 based on? The chances of getting it back to C are slim. I assume you have the binary firmware file. Am in the process of decoding the 250 firmware (both 1.115 multiregion and 1.364 R2), but it`s slow progress. I think it`s an SH3 proc, but haven`t opened it to be sure.

RikD"

Damn you Sir!!!!!!!!!
Damn RikD!!!!!!!!
I do not know the processor of the 505!
which I am sure Clayts will pick up on!
Damn you!!!!!!!!

And there is where the program lie`s, I have done a fair bit of programming in c++, but when it comes to disembly......eh?
The 505s firmware is a CD containing 4 rom binary files.

If you read it in visual C, you can sea all the text used for the menu`s so thats hopefull.

maybe we can work together to find both solution, we know it is possible as it has already been done.

HITACHI 505 ROCKS!!!!!!!!!
HITACHI 250 THE OLD ROCKER!!!!!!!!!

with your multiregion software, when the RCE map comes up, I wonder if you can access the film via number pad like tosh owners?

if so that digest feature would work a treat?

> The LG looks like the old Jap stereo systems, all gaudy and tacky!

Hey, that`s my future player to be your talking about. I have to defend it`s honor. I kinda like it`s quirky looks with a gun metal facia and tiny shiney chrome buttons. With features like a glow in the dark remote it is simply unbeatable.

Hitachi 505 may rock, but
LG 3350E QUAKES!

(for legal reasons I must point out that this is as yet unproven)

This item was edited on Friday, 27th October 2000, 17:22

"Hey, that`s my future player to be your talking about. I have to defend it`s honor. I kinda like it`s quirky looks with a gun metal facia and tiny shiney chrome buttons. With features like a glow in the dark remote it is simply unbeatable."

TASTE?

HITACHI 505 ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LG3350 Looks abit sh*t?

Come on then. Lets have all the hard ones outside now!

Doesn`t sound so good. Is it often or just the occasional discs? And which discs?



Does it play any CDR of mp3s or do you have to compile to a standard?



But I still prefer my 250....


Find out if you can. Am working on a small C++ program which will read in the binary file and decompile to assembler for the SH3, SH3-E and SH3-DSP. It`s not too easy and I don`t have too much time to give to it.


When I have the program up and running maybe I can get these files off you. I hope to spend some time in the next 3 weeks to get the SH3 up and running. Then work on the others..


And still the best....



I haven`t got the patriot to try, and don`t intend to buy it. I didn`t particularly like the movie, and don`t fancy forking out for it. If stoping the DVD before the menu is possible then the Disk Navi (or digest as you call it) would work a treat, showing every title and chapter... Which I might add is great for getting to easter eggs!

RikD

Total mutual respect mate. That`s my only comment !

C :-)